In a number of technical fields, for example in the manufacture of integrated circuits, it is desirable to represent a visual image in a digital format with a pixel-by-pixel representation of the image (pixel map) and to process the digital image to perform various tasks. The digital image may be used to locate items within the image or to otherwise process, store or transmit the image.
The conventional techniques and apparatuses for performing these tasks may have had shortcomings such as requiring large periods of time to process the images or requiring expansive memory allocations in the computers performing the image processing. Additionally, prior art techniques may have had considerable difficulties identifying images on cluttered or noisy backgrounds. Furthermore, attempts to process the image on a basis other than pixel-by-pixel have typically been limited to simple figures on non-noisy backgrounds.